VCU innovation leader Ivelina Metcheva selected for Fulbright program in India – VCU News

By Jeff Kelley

With a population of nearly 1.5 billion, India has surpassed China as the world’s most populous country. As VCU’s assistant vice president for innovation and head of TechTransfer and Ventures, Metcheva, Ph.D., has helped build relationships with universities, government representatives and industry partners in India.

Beginning Oct. 3, the two-week Fulbright International Education Administrators seminar will immerse U.S. higher education leaders in India’s universities, research institutions and higher education system. Fulbright, established in 1946, is the U.S. government’s flagship international academic exchange program.

“I see this as a moment not just for me, but for VCU and our entire research and innovation enterprise,” Metcheva said. “India has an extraordinary research, technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem. I want to better understand how we can connect VCU researchers and innovations with the right academic and industry partners there.”

VCU already maintains relationships with numerous institutions across the country, including Ahmedabad University, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Kharagpur, Gujarat Technological University, the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, and others.

Metcheva’s goal through the Fulbright program is to deepen VCU’s connections by identifying opportunities for joint research, connecting VCU faculty with Indian researchers and exploring partnerships that can help move discoveries from laboratories into the marketplace.

“Ivelina has been instrumental in building VCU’s innovation and commercialization enterprise, but what makes her particularly well-suited for this Fulbright experience is her ability to build partnerships,” said P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation at VCU. “Research and innovation increasingly transcend borders, and the relationships she develops in India can open new opportunities for our faculty, our technologies and our university. I was proud to recommend her for this program and am delighted to see her selected.”

Metcheva, who holds a doctorate in molecular biology from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and an MBA from the College of William & Mary, leads VCU’s enterprise that protects intellectual property, licenses discoveries to companies, develops industry collaborations and helps faculty researchers create new ventures.

TechTransfer and Ventures has helped build a commercialization portfolio that includes more than 2,000 inventions, 2,500 patent filings, 300 issued patents, 100-plus startups and 60 products that have generated more than $45 million in licensing revenue for the university. VCU ranks first among Virginia universities in licensing revenue and faculty startups, and second in licenses and options to companies.

“Ivelina brings a rare combination of scientific expertise, entrepreneurial acumen and cultural fluency to this work,” said Hernan Bucheli, Ed.D., VCU’s vice president for strategic enrollment management and global initiatives. “She understands that the strongest global partnerships are not transactional but are instead long-term relationships built around shared goals and mutual benefit. The relationships and insights she brings back from India will certainly have an impact at VCU.”

For Metcheva, cultivating relationships that last well beyond the two-week program is essential.

“The most valuable outcome would be to come home with relationships that continue to grow,” she said. “If we can connect a VCU researcher with a collaborator, introduce one of our technologies to the right partner or create a pathway for a future joint venture, then the impact of these two weeks can continue for years.”